After Saturday's losses, Arron Afflalo and Victor Oladipo are hungry to return to All-Star Weekend

NEW ORLEANS — After Saturday night, Orlando Magic guards Arron Afflalo and Victor Oladipo now have additional motivation to return to All-Star Weekend next year.

Afflalo found his rhythm too late in the Three-Point Contest and didn't make it past the first round, while Oladipo and the Philadelphia 76ers' Michael Carter-Williams lost in the Skills Challenge's championship round by only one-tenth of a second.

Although Afflalo made four of his last five shots in the Three-Point Contest, he finished with 15 points. The San Antonio Spurs' Marco Belinelli beat the Washington Wizards' Bradley Beal in the final.

"I'm definitely disappointed," Afflalo said afterward. "But with some things, you've just got to get a first experience with, so hopefully I get another opportunity in the future."

For the first time, the NBA turned the Skills Challenge into a relay race with two players on each team.

The course began with a layup or a dunk, followed by dribbling around obstacles. After that, the first player on a team had to complete a chest pass through a target, sink a shot from the top of the key, dribble around more obstacles and pass to his teammate. Then, the teammate running the anchor leg had to do the same course on his own and finish with either a layup or a dunk.

Oladipo and Carter-Williams, the favorites to win the NBA's Rookie of the Year award, advanced to the championship round by edging the Toronto Raptors' DeMar DeRozan and the Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo in the first round by 1.7 seconds.

In the championship round, Carter-Williams and Oladipo posted a time of 45.3 seconds. But the Portland Trail Blazers' Damian Lillard and the Utah Jazz's Trey Burke finished the course in 45.2 seconds.

After the event ended, Oladipo and the other participants sat in a room answering questions, and Oladipo yelled across the way to Carter-Williams.

"Yo, Mike!" Oladipo said, a wry smile on his face. "Demand a rematch next year!"

"Yep!" Carter-Williams said.

Oladipo laughed.

"Demand a rematch for next year!" Oladipo said.

"The same teams!" Carter-Williams added.

Oladipo laughed again.

On Friday night, Oladipo looked exhausted after he participated in the Rising Stars Challenge. But on Saturday, he seemed refreshed and a bit hoarse.

"It's been fun," Oladipo said. "I really haven't gotten any time to sit down and just be and just take it all in and be thankful."

Afflalo's schedule was hectic, too. On Saturday, in his role as the Magic's representative to the players' union, he attended the union's annual All-Star Weekend meeting. At that meeting, the reps heard from candidates for the union's vacant executive director job.

Afflalo wouldn't comment on the meeting.

But he added he had fun on Friday and Saturday, partly because his dad made the trip from Southern California to New Orleans.

Afflalo is even hungrier to return to All-Star Weekend next year — and play in the All-Star Game.

"No question," he said. "I definitely want to be a part of the big game and hopefully have another opportunity to be in the Three-Point Contest. But, yeah, I'm highly motivated now that this weekend's behind me."

So is Oladipo.

When his formal Q-and-A with reporters ended, a member of the team's Internet staff asked Oladipo to look into a video camera and record a message for the team's website.

"What's up, Magic fans?" Oladipo said.

"We came up a little bit short on the Skills Challenge, but it was a good time. We lost by like a tenth of a second, but it was fun. Hopefully, I'm going to be representing you guys for many more All-Star Weekends to come."

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.